This unassuming character had his foot run over by a car as he lay drunk beside the road. Someone took him to hospital 2 weeks ago, when it happened, and in this picture it does not look too bad. He is one of the guys we regularly talk to on one of the squares in this favela. He is always there, drunk most of the time but likes to talk alot about the type of work he does (construction) and about his life in another part of Brazil.
Yesterday, we took him to 3 health posts followed by a hospital because his foot had gone bad. He had been walking on it, was dirty, infected and looked really nasty.
The first 2 health posts did not want to help him - he has no documents (technically does not exist according to Brazilian law) and lives in a house with others, so does not have his own place. They did not want to assume responsibility for him but did say that if his foot does not get treated soon it will have to be removed from his leg. The last health post we tried were very helpful, even to the extent where they told us how we can "get round" the law to enable him to have medical care. But more than this, one of the nurses came in the car with us, showed us where the hospital is that would accept him and then went to the front of the line to get him admitted. One moment it looked like this lovely man would die from an infected foot because no-one wanted to take responsibility for him, the next moment, God enabled someone to have compassion for him and got him to the front of the line. Isaiah 25v4 says this: "You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress..." We get to see God, the Defender of The Poor, in action when we work with people like this. It is exciting and every bit worth it, even if it takes many hours. Personally, I could not see that man lose his foot or even die when I could do something about it myself. Sometimes if we are aware of a problem we need to pray but a lot of the time we need to be the answer even if it means using our own time and money.